I’ve been thinking a lot about transcendence in sports and politics — two fields in which the quantitative and the qualitative collide.
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The 2024 presidential election and the irrational cult of narcissism
These days, everyone is making closing arguments — Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald J. Trump, comedian Jimmy Kimmel of ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” — as if we the people were we, the jury, which I suppose we are. I might as well make one as well.
Read MoreHigh profile leave-takings ask -- when and how to go?
Recently, The Museum of Modern Art director Glenn D. Lowry, a man I interviewed several times in my career as a cultural writer, announced that he will step down from his post after 30 years in September of 2025.
As much as his counterpart Philippe de Montebello at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, who left that post in 2008 after more than 30 years as its longest-serving director, Lowry really shaped the New York City cultural scene at the twilight of the 20th century and the dawn of the 21st. He could’ve stayed on.
But he told The New York Times: “I didn’t want to be the person who stayed too long.”
In that, however, Lowry is a rare bird.
Read MoreThe pet-eating conspiracy theory -- the Salem Witch Trials of our time
Former President Donald J. Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance blame the alleged second assassination attempt on Trump’s life on the Democrats “hateful” rhetoric. But the Democrats aren’t the ones who called Mexican immigrants “rapists,” instituted a Muslim travel ban, put babies on the border in cages, referred to women as “dogs,” “nasty” and “four out of 10” and disdained American P.O.W.s as “losers.”
MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell has said Trump possesses “the most hateful mind in presidential history.” This after Trump tweeted “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,” all because she endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president after the debate in which Trump went on a tangent about pet-eating Haitians in Springfield, Ohio.
Read MoreThoughts on the US Open
The US Open began on a brilliant August day (the 26th) that hinted at autumn and ended on a brilliant September day (the 8th) that delivered it.
In between, there were upsets — women’s No. 1 Iga Swiatek, last year’s women’s winner Coco Gauff, last year’s men’s winner Novak Djokovic and the No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz — and some insightful tennis as Taylor Fritz and Francis Tiafoe squared off in a semifinal that gave hope to American fans of a possible U.S. champion.
But only false hope. I saw men’s No. 1 Jannik Sinner practice with Paris bronze medalist Lorenzo Musetti on Media Day — Friday, Aug. 25 — and thought Sinner would win the men’s final, which he did, beating Fritz in straight sets 6-3. 6-4. 7-5.
Read MoreRoot, root, root for the visiting team -- and the American worker
A pre-Labor Day trip to see the good-but-not-great New York Yankees play the better-than-expected Nationals in Washington D.C. yielded some insights into the American worker, who these days always seems always to be on the visiting team — that is, in hostile territory.
Read MoreNBC, the Olympics and American exceptionalism
The Olympics were just getting underway July 27 when the American swim team was reminded of how Australian swimmer Cate Campbell reveled in her country having had more gold medals than the United States (13 to seven) at the 2023 World Swimming Championships.
There has long been an intense rivalry between the swim teams that has spilled over into trash talk, but Campbell really went off on the cowbells in the stands that support Americans in the pool and even the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” If nothing succeeds like success, nothing irks like it either.
While the National Anthem comment seems petty, Campbell may have a point when you consider NBC’s cheerleading coverage of the Paris Games as we roll through the second week of competition….
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